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Leonard Aitken – Artist.

This is a gallery of the paintings, drawings, mixed media artworks, music and stories of visual artist Leonard Aitken. Most of the paintings in this gallery are for sale.

Feel free to ring me on (02) 5698 5284 or email me (go to contact page) for offers or questions about paintings or other works.

Limited edition prints are available on request.

Commission work is available. I am willing to paint anything you would like – just describe what you want. (Portraits, flowers, landscapes, a favourite ornament, etc)

The paintings explore such genres as:

botanical and floral

landscape

seascape

surrealism or fantasy

conceptual art

spiritual or Christian art.

I mostly paint with oil on canvas. I also use pastel, ink and mixed media.
Light plays a key role in most of my works. Backlighting adds drama and fragility to flowers, leaves, foliage, mountains, forests, jungles and the ocean.

The surreal works use bright colour and high contrasts. They play with the 2 dimensional space. They are inspired by dreams and subconscious improvisation. They contain a quirky, sometimes wacky sense of humour.
The conceptual and spiritual paintings are a new avenue of exploration for me. My music is too.
I have been writing stories since a child, painting for about 30 years and animating for about 15 years.

Leonard Aitken – News.

I am aiming to have an exhibition in the Professional Centre in early December 2014. I am hoping to incorporate video and music into this exhibition as well as show the new paintings completed this year.

Leonard Aitken – Australian Artist

Leonard Aitken is an australian artist and has been painting for 30 years. He has a love for all types of art, music, literature and film. Lenny prefers to paint realistic and surrealistic works. The natural world around him is his first inspiration, but most of his work is transformed by a prodigious imagination. His output is prolific and doesn’t confine itself just to painting but also music (composing, playing piano), writing (stories, poetry), film and animation.

Leonard discovered he could paint at the age of 15, but it wasn’t until the age of 32 that he decided to get serious and enter university. In 1995 he completed a Bachelor of Arts (visual arts) at Charles Sturt University, (Wagga Wagga), which he passed with distinction. Since then he has completed a Diploma of Education and has taught art at schools, Tafe, various adult education institutions and at home. However art is his first love.

“I ‘m effervescent and lively and can’t cope with just doing one thing all the time. I need constantly to experiment, use different mediums and explore different genres.” Usually he has about 20 paintings “in progress” at once, while simultaneously working on various musical, writing and animation projects. His paintings are usually built up in many layers of stains and glazes. His floral and landscape paintings tend to concentrate on the properties of light and colour and have a calm beauty despite their brightness and vivid detail. Some of his more “whimsical” paintings have been described as resembling “animation stills”; and his animations as having the quality of “paintings come to life”.

Botanical Paintings

“My botanical paintings are quite intimate. I love insects, the details of leaves, little droplets of water and the peaceful solitude of a small nook in a garden. Light plays an important role in these works. All life comes from light. I especially love backlighting which shows up, the veins in leaves, the shadows of insects and other leaves or flowers showing through the main motif, or the general shapes and tones of the less important background features. The often soft-focus background suggests their is more in this scene than just the main motif. These works are a microcosm of the bountiful world within which they live.These works are painted carefully and lovingly. They have the ability to absorb the light with which they are illuminated.”

Surrealist Paintings

“My surrealist works are wild and varied. Many are poetic representations of ideas or feelings which I have imagined or experienced. Others are based on dreams. Some of these works are just confections and closer to the realm of fantasy. Still others are purely improvised. These works begin with nothing more than the desire to paint. The paint goes on at random and the image grows and evolves. Often the concepts of these works evolve out of the process of painting. The use of space in my surrealist works is often ambiguous. Forms or areas of paint shimmer, moving backwards and forwards within the implied three dimensional plane of the painted surface. These shifting perspectives are like those moments of transformation within dreams where reality changes to unreality, or where scenes or meanings alter suddenly. The titles of these pieces are usually poetic and invite the viewer to observe the painting from their own perspective.”

Spiritual/Conceptual

“My spiritual paintings stem from a strong belief in God and each day I feel that His influence is permeating my work more and more. I believe my work is slowly changing into the way “He” sees the world. It is difficult for me to separate the spiritual and the conceptual since all the concepts which lead me through life are related to spirituality. What is the meaning of life? How do we communicate with god? What is the nature of truth, joy, peace, beauty and love? These are some of the ideas I hope to explore in the near future. I also like to explore more secular concepts. Currently I am challenging myself with a series of paintings exploring and commenting on the different genres, styles and mediums employed in art. I enjoy incorporating humour into these and also many of my surrealist works.”

Landscape/Marine

“All artists are just mere imitators of the great creator. At best we can only modify and stylize what has already been thought of and created. The multiplicity of techniques needed to represent the – solid ‘permanence’ of mountains and rock, the immutable fleeting nature of clouds, the variety of shapes, sizes, colours and characters of trees (this one is the most difficult) or the fragility of a blade of grass – is endless. Somehow the landscape artist is expected to fuse the leaden majesty of the land, with the vast emptiness of the sky. Light is crucial. It should unify these two opposing elements. It plays a critical part in all my landscapes. Likewise, light is paramount in the creation of a successful seascape. My marine paintings are always dominated by movement and light. The paint needs to be applied quickly to impart the sensation of movement in a marine painting. Waves, splashes and reflections all need to be treated as they are – momentary. Recently I’ve been experimenting with different palettes with my marine work – some tend towards photorealism – others to a more highly exaggerated colour scheme.”

Leonard Aitken is partial to bright, high keyed colours, strong contrasts and complex and detailed works.

EXHIBITIONS

Solo

Medical Centre Exhibition

An exhibition of mixed paintings held at the Coffs Harbour Medical Centre (October 2010 – present)

The Federal Hotel

An exhibition of mixed paintings held at the Federal Hotel in Bellingen (April – May, 2012)

Club Coffs

An exhibition of mixed paintings held at Club Coffs April 2012.

Roads to Eternity

A collection of works depicting ideas relating to the concept of eternity.

Open Studio 14th – 28th, October, 2011

Paintings in this ongoing exhibition are due to be changed in late 2011.

Extempore (2010) Quasi – surrealist works. (Open Studio)

Open Studio

Part of a three man surrealist show at Open Studio, Coffs Harbour. (December, 2009)

Jetty Theatre Exhibition

An exhibition of mixed paintings held at the Jetty Theatre. (Feb. 2008)

An exhibition of paintings and animation based on images and ideas inspired by the Coffs Harbour Botanical Gardens
Coffs Harbour Botanical Gardens (Exhibition room) (December 2006)

Living Light

An exhibition of paintings exploring the various qualities of light in nature and other subjects
101 Bellingen (July 2004)

Confection, Invention, Creation

An exhibition of paintings, drawing, animations, etc exploring the various themes surrounding different types of creation
Wagga Wagga Community Art Gallery and Deniliquin Peppin Heritage Centre
May and September 2000